We will pick up this lesson in Exodus chapter 5, verse 1.
Exodus “5:1 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told
Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that
they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.”
Here, we see Moses and Aaron going before the Pharaoh of Egypt,
boldly. We could take a lesson from this. We must be bold in the Lord.
We must not back down from telling the truth, because of a person’s
station in life. We must learn to be bold in bringing the message of
God. When Moses and Aaron gave the message to Pharaoh, they were
explicit with him about what God this was. In a land where there are so
many false gods, This would be an important thing to do. God was
specific in this request about what He wanted from Pharaoh (let my
people go). This next verse lets you know how little Pharaoh really
knew about the real God. We can see, here, the necessity for going to
the wilderness to sacrifice animals to God. Some of the sacrificial
animals were objects of worship in Egypt, and it would cause a war.
Exodus 5:2 “And Pharaoh said, Who [is] the LORD, that I should
obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I
let Israel go.”
You can see, that Pharaoh did not know the Lord God. He not only
does not know Him, but had never heard of Him. It was a good question,
why should he obey His voice. This Lord God was spoken of as Jehovah,
when Moses came back to Egypt after his encounter with God at the
burning bush, The pharaohs thought of themselves as gods, and really
didn’t obey even their false gods, so why should they worship these
Hebrews’ God? Even if Pharaoh was sure this was the real God, he,
probably, wouldn’t let them go because he was so proud of his own
power, that it would be highly unlikely that he would bow to the real
God’s demands.
Exodus 5:3 “And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with
us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and
sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence,
or with the sword.”
Moses knew all too well what could happen to you, if you did not
obey the Lord’s commands. Probably, the reason these plagues were
mentioned, here, is that the Pharaoh would be aware that these plagues,
if they came upon the Hebrews, would fall upon the Egyptians, as well.
Exodus 5:4 “And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do
ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto
your burdens.”
We see here, one of the reasons why the Pharaoh would not do this,
was because he would lose 3 days work from this vast forced laborer
crew of the Hebrews. Then, he told Moses and Aaron to get on back to
work themselves.
Exodus 5:5 “And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now
[are] many, and ye make them rest from their burdens.”
Pharaoh was aggravated, because this great amount of people wanted
to take 3 days off from their labors. We see many times in history, how
great men (by the world’s standards) come against the people of God,
and make it very difficult for the ministers of God to perform the
tasks God has given them. Moses and Aaron might as well be talking to
the wind. Pharaoh was not about to let these people go at this point.
Moses and Aaron leave.
Exodus 5:6 “And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of
the people, and their officers, saying,”
Exodus 5:7 “Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick,
as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves.”
Here, we see cruelty to the utmost. the Pharaoh wanted the people
to know that he did not appreciate this request of Moses and Aaron, so
exacted this extra work load as immediate punishment. These taskmasters,
here, were from a different root word, than the ones earlier mentioned,
and probably, were talking about officers close to the Pharaoh, who
would carry out the Pharaoh’s orders. Straw was chopped up and used
as bulk in the making of the brick. The job of getting enough straw to
make bricks for a full day’s work would require several extra hours of
work each day. This punishment inflicted by Pharaoh, was to deter any
future requests from Moses and Aaron on behalf of the Hebrews.
Exodus 5:8 “And the tale of the bricks, which they did make
heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish [ought]
thereof: for they [be] idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go
[and] sacrifice to our God.”
Pharaoh’s idea was that they were wanting to go to meet with God,
because they have idle time. He thought if he wore them completely out
with hard work, they would be too tired to plan a trip to meet with
their God. Pharaoh made it very clear that they were to make just as
many bricks as they did before, but they would have to furnish all of
their own straw, as well. His theory was to keep them too worn out to
protest.
Exodus 5:9 “Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they
may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.”
Here, we see that Pharaoh had no regard at all for the feeling of
others. He was saying in this, that regardless of what they said or did,
he would not let them go.
Exodus 5:10 “And the taskmasters of the people went out, and
their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith
Pharaoh, I will not give you straw.”
Exodus 5:11 “Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not
ought of your work shall be diminished.”
Exodus 5:12 “So the people were scattered abroad throughout all
the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.”
These overseers were cruel, as well. They spoke to the people
about furnishing their own straw, and the straw close by had already
been used; so they picked stubble instead of straw. As I said before,
this caused them several extra hours of work every day.
Exodus 5:13 “And the taskmasters hasted [them], saying, Fulfil
your works, [your] daily tasks, as when there was straw.”
Exodus 5:14 “And the officers of the children of Israel, which
Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, [and] demanded,
Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both
yesterday and today, as heretofore?”
We see, here, that this was an impossible task to fulfill. This
ended in beatings and accusations. These beatings were done to the
Hebrews who were actually overseers, themselves, under the Egyptians.
Even working from sunup to sundown, there was no way to do this
terrible task. Frequent beatings of the workers made it worse, because
sore bodies could not work as hard.
Exodus 5:15 “Then the officers of the children of Israel came
and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy
servants?”
Exodus 5:16 “There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they
say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants [are] beaten; but the
fault [is] in thine own people.”
This was an appeal directly to the Pharaoh, to not require more
than they could possibly do.
Exodus 5:17 “But he said, Ye [are] idle, [ye are] idle: therefore
ye say, Let us go [and] do sacrifice to the LORD.”
Exodus 5:18 “Go therefore now, [and] work; for there shall no
straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks.”
Exodus 5:19 “And the officers of the children of Israel did see
[that] they [were] in evil [case], after it was said, Ye shall not
minish [ought] from your bricks of your daily task.”
We see that, these Israelite officers got nowhere with Pharaoh.
Pharaoh reminded them, that this punishment was because of the request
of Moses and Aaron that they go in the desert to worship. These
officers knew that they were in for a rough time, and they blamed Moses
and Aaron for this hardship placed on them.
Exodus 5:20 “And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way,
as they came forth from Pharaoh:”
Exodus 5:21 “And they said unto them, The LORD look upon you, and
judge; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of
Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand
to slay us.”
Here, these overseers were really upset with Moses and Aaron, and
told them that they were trying to get them killed. The Pharaoh and his
men were blaming the Hebrew overseers, and the Hebrew workers were
blaming them, too. They were caught in the middle, and being were beaten
every day.
Exodus 5:22 “And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Lord,
wherefore hast thou [so] evil entreated this people? why [is] it
[that] thou hast sent me?”
Moses was very disturbed about what he heard. Moses was blaming
God. Then he got brash enough to ask God why did he even send him?
Moses and Aaron had been so confused by all of this, that they didn’t
even answer the Hebrew overseers. They, probably, didn’t know what to
say. They knew that they had said exactly what God had told them to,
but they had not gotten the expected results. Many times, when we do
exactly what God tells us to, it seems we have failed for a good
while. Perhaps, had not all these terrible things happened to the
Hebrews, they might be reluctant to leave Egypt in search for the
promised land. It was very difficult to figure God out. Here, we see a
bold Moses who cried out to God, “Why?” Trials come to all believers,
and we are told they come to make us strong. God has a purpose for
sure, and He really does not have to share that purpose with us. As
Job withstood in the face of terrible happenings, these Israelites
must stand for what was right, too. Christians are no exceptions
either. Sometimes, we do not understand the hardships we must face
either. Only God knows these answers. When the going gets rough, go in
prayer to God, as Moses did here.
Exodus 5:23 “For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he
hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people
at all.”
Every minister who has spoken for God, throughout all time, has
felt this frustration that Moses felt, here. He felt that he had been
a failure, not only to these people, but to God, as well. He was almost
accusingly pointing a finger at God here. It is as if he was saying you
told me you would deliver them, now why haven’t you? We are an
impatient people. God can see the end, and knows they would be
delivered. He doesn’t count a few weeks as anything.